...an award-nominated Irish blog on Irish history and Irish politics-from today and yesterday:all 32 Counties !Updated a number of times each week . (Mirror site here)

" A wealth of information..."

"1169 And Counting is a wealth of information on our Republican past and present , and demonstrates how the Irish political landscape , like that of any nation, will never be a black and white issue..."

IRISH BLOG AWARDS 2017 - ooops! It seems that our entry application was "not completed in time to be considered.." (?) and, as such, we are not now in the running. But we wish all the best to the successful entrants and to the organisers, and we hope all goes well for them on the day!

Saturday, October 27, 2007

This is the same bumbling half-wit that recently found himself being 'investigated' by the very Tribunal that he and his equally morally corrupt colleagues in Leinster House were forced (by public opinion) to establish : the same Bertie Ahern that co-signed most of the 1,615 cheques drawn on the Fianna Fail leaders allowance account from 1984 to 1992 (... better known as 'The Haughey Years'..) : the man who , when asked in September 2006 about political appointments to State Boards replied - ” I might have appointed somebody but I appointed them because they were friends , not because of anything they had given me . ” : the same political and moral degenerate who stood in front of the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis in April 1997 and pledged - ” No-one , no-one , is welcome in this party if they betray the public trust . I say this and I mean this with every fibre of my being. ”

Obviously , his 'being' lacks 'fibre'. As Oscar Wilde put it - " Society sooner or later must return to its lost leader , the cultured and fascinating liar." But , in this case - without the 'cultured' bit...

Friday, October 26, 2007

The 'London Times' newspaper has learned little Irish history since the Pigott Forgeries, but that little doesn't stop it pontificating on our problems . What it doesn't know it invents . Here is the imperial line on the Irish Question , and Messers. de Valera and Costello might take note : the border is not a creation of the British Government , according to the 'Special Correspondent' who wrote the article 'Thirty Years After Partition' for the special supplement . That 'Correspondent' exlains -

" Charges and counter-charges have been launched . But the basic position is perfectly clear . A division was reached - and accepted in Dublin , in Belfast and in London - to meet so far as was practical the realities of a difficult situation . This situation , as has been shown , was not of Northern nor of British making . "

The basic position may be 'perfectly clear' to The Times and its readers ('the best quality people in England' , according to its own advertisements...) but it is also , amazingly enough , perfectly clear to the Irish people . Our conclusions in regard to this "basic position" differ more than somewhat.......(MORE LATER).

A PORTRAIT OF IRELAND , by Saoránach. First published in the Republican Bulletin - Iris Na Poblachta , November 1986.

The Ireland of 1986 is beset by many social problems . Most of us are aware of this . We know there is material and cultural deprivation and that unemployment is at record levels , both North and South .

Our society seems to drift along , leaderless . The problems are now so great that only radical change will solve them . Those who look to the British , Loyalist and 26-County establishments in Ireland for positive and honest national leadership will look in vain . To take one example - it is sad indeed to see sincere Gaeilgeoirí (ie 'Irish speakers') going to the 26-County Minister for Education , Mr Patrick Cooney, to ask him to take action to halt the alarming decline in the Irish language in our schools . Ná bí ag caint !

Those who would wish to change a lot of things in Irish society cannot plan a way ahead without first taking a hard look and making a realistic assessment of how and where we are now and how we got here . Never was the need for a radical alternative more necessary than today.......(MORE LATER).

There were four branches of the United Irishmen in TCD and Robert Emmet was secretary of one of them . However , after an inquisition , presided over by Lord Chancellor Fitzgibbon, Emmet became one of nineteen students who were expelled for United Irishmen activity .

Although not active in the 1798 Rising, Robert Emmet was well known to the authorities and by April 1799 , when Habeas Corpus had been suspended , there was a warrant issued for his arrest , which he managed to evade and , early in 1801 , accompanied by a Mr Malachy Delany of Cork , he travelled throughout Europe , and made Paris his headquarters - it was there that he replaced Edward Lewis as the liaison officer between Irish and French Republicans .

While in Paris , Emmet learned about rockets and weapons , and studied a two-volume treatise by a Colonel Tempelhoff which can be examined in the Royal Irish Academy, with the marginal notes given the reader some insight into Emmet's thinking.......(MORE LATER).

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

In some ways it is a pity the 'London Times' newspaper isn't more widely read in Ireland . The issue of December 9 , 1957 , for example , makes interesting reading : that Imperial organ set us straight on partition and Irish independence , and should be made required reading for the front-benchers of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael:

" It's (ie the Six Occupied Counties) resolution to remain under the Crown and to keep the Union Jack flying has not swerved . The second problem is the perennial one of keeping the peace. The Free State , now a republic ('1169..' Comment - ... a banana republic, only..) came into being because a minority of Irishmen felt so strongly that they were prepared to fight . ('1169..' Comment - shame on that 'minority' , to be sure . Didn't they know that the Empire had troublesome natives in other colonies to be dealing with ? No damn consideration , what !)

The men ('1169...' Comment - ...and women!) who fought were hailed as heroes and martyrs . This is understandable enough as a common accompaniment of militant patriotism but , as always happens in such cases , it proved easier to encourage young men to use the gun than to persuade them that the time for doing so was past . The Northern Ireland Government (sic- a puppet administration , guided by Westminster) has to-day perpetually to be on its guard against murderous raids carried out by gangsters who see themselves as patriots following in the footsteps of heroic fathers....... " (MORE LATER).

ECONOMY IN CRISIS - An Historical Perspective.......

By any standards the economy of Ireland , North and South , can be described as being in a sorry mess with crisis , recession and imminent bankruptcy the most constant themes of economic discussion , intermittently over the last decade and ceaselessly in the last three years . In this article , Peter Graham surveys the factors which have produced this economy , and the historical role of foreign and native Irish capital.

From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1982.

The future , then , for Ireland , economically and socially , depends not on more attempts to rescue or prop up the capitalist system , which has proved impotent , but on replacing it totally .

The inextricably malignant influence of Britain's interference remains as relevant as it ever was , economically , in Ireland , but at the same time the native capitalist malignancy has been developing within . Both must be destroyed .

Son of Dr Robert Emmet and Elizabeth Mason, with the father serving as state physician to the vice-regal household : however , the good doctor wasc a social reformer who believed that in order to achieve the emancipation of the Irish people it was first necessary to break the link with England .

Born into this household on March 4th , 1778 , Robert Emmet was baptised on March 10th in St Peter's Church of Ireland in Aungier Street , Dublin . The young Robert attended Oswald's School in Dropping Court , off Golden Lane , Dublin . From there he went to Samuel Whytes School in Grafton Street , quite near his home , and later to the school of the Reverend Mr Lewis in Camden Street .

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

IGNORING OUR HISTORY...

" We really must enter a protest against the way in which Irish history is written by some English historians. In Wright's History of Ireland we find the following gratuitous assertion offered to excuse De Clare's crime: "Such a refinement of cruelty must have arisen from a suspicion of treachery, or from some other grievous offence with which we are not acquainted."If all the dark deeds of history are to be accounted for in this way, we may bid farewell to historical justice. And yet this work, which is written in the most prejudiced manner, has had a far larger circulation in Ireland than Mr. Haverty's truthful and well-written history. When Irishmen support such works, they must not blame their neighbours across the Channel for accepting them as truthful histories."(From here)"Historical justice..." ? Not if this political brothel has anything to do with it.......

Monday, October 22, 2007

In their hearts plant the seeds of his story ,In their minds light the dream of his soul ,And point them the road that he travelled -The rough road to Liberty's goal .

Diarmuid O Donnabháin Rossa ,Glory to God for his life ,For the glorious memory he leaves us To strengthen our hearts in the strife ,Till the cause that he lived for has triumphed ,Till the darkness of thraldom has fled ,And Ireland , unfettered, shall honourThe names of her patriot dead !

[END of 'O Donovan Rossa'](Next: 'British Occupation And The London Times Newspaper' - from the same source.)

ECONOMY IN CRISIS - An Historical Perspective.......

By any standards the economy of Ireland , North and South , can be described as being in a sorry mess with crisis , recession and imminent bankruptcy the most constant themes of economic discussion , intermittently over the last decade and ceaselessly in the last three years . In this article , Peter Graham surveys the factors which have produced this economy , and the historical role of foreign and native Irish capital.

From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1982.

The lesson then of this examination of the Irish economic experience is the failure , even in its own terms , of the native capitalist system , despite every possible state assistance , to bring prosperity to the Irish people , whether through agriculture or industry .

Foreign capital , whether British or American , has been confirmed as only a self-interested entity in the economic system . The Irish capitalist has often ridden the nationalist tide , sometimes following it , sometimes leading it , but inevitably his concentration on personal profit dictates his approach to all other considerations . The future then for Ireland , economically and socially , depends on replacing such a failed system.......(MORE LATER).

To invoke another memory from the past , it is time to get up off our knees and to dissent loudly from the brutal oppression of whole groups of people by the US and Britain and to stand again with the republican prisoners , their families and supporters against a criminalisation policy that is just wrong .

We have the power to stand against the 'New World Order' and there is no better place to start than in our own back yard with our own people .

[END of ' PRISONERS RIGHTS - the mark of a civilised society '](NEXT : ' Robert Emmet - The Darling Of Erin' , from the same source)

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Victims of the Great Hunger...'The Times' editorial of September 30, 1845, warned; "In England the two main meals of a working man's day now consists of potatoes." England's potato-dependence was as excessive as Ireland's. Grossly over-populated relative to its food supply, England faced famine unless it could import vast amounts of alternative food. But it didn't take merely Ireland's surplus food; or enough Irish food to save England. It took more; for profit and to exterminate the people of Ireland. British Queen Victoria's economist, Nassau Senior, expressed his fear that existing policies "...will not kill more than one million Irish in 1848 and that will scarcely be enough to do much good." When an eye-witness urged a stop to the genocide-in-progress, Trevelyan replied: "We must not complain of what we really want to obtain." Trevelyan insisted that all reports of starvation were exaggerated, until 1847. He then declared it ended and refused entry to the American food relief ship Sorciére.Thomas Carlyle, influential British essayist, wrote; "Ireland is like a half-starved rat that crosses the path of an elephant. What must the elephant do? Squelch it - by heavens - squelch it."'Total Annihilation' suggested The Times leader of September 2, 1846; and in 1848 its editorialists crowed "A Celt will soon be as rare on the banks of the Shannon as the red man on the banks of Manhattan..."

PLEASE HELP US TO GET A TRUE RESOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF BRITISH INTERFERENCE IN IRISH AFFAIRS . Thank You , Sharon.